ABSTRACT
Cordeiro’s question has never been answered adequately. Historians have for a long time wondered why King Valdemar II the Victorious chose to marry Berengaria, the sister of King Afonso II the Fat of distant Portugal. For Danish historians, Portugal is not only far away, it also belonged to a completely different culture with different values and a different geographical orientation from
Figure 1.1 “The head was altogether complete and of a most beautiful shape, with an oval face, prominent nose bone, and with complete rows of teeth of a rarely even and beautiful shape.” Description of Berengaria from the archaeological report, 1855. Here a cast in the church of Sankt Bendt in Ringsted. © Mona Bager Jensen
Denmark during the Middle Ages. For Portuguese historians, Denmark is even further away and has a short history spanning not more than a thousand years. The country is inhabited by tall, Viking-like people, who find it difficult to speak a cultured Romanesque language. During the 1800s, Danish historians explained the strange royal marriage between two representatives from such different cultures as something “purely personal” regarding the Danish King. Berengaria was
an outstanding beauty and some thought that Valdemar had seen her during an expedition to Portugal and the Holy Land and had decided – twenty-five years later – to marry her. Others thought that he had heard about her person and her character and was impressed. Yet others were of the opinion that he had seen her in Flanders and had fallen helplessly in love. Amongst some Portuguese historians, Berengaria’s beauty is still mentioned as an explanation.6
